OOTP Celebrity writes a book

[CONN CHRIS]

This is very exciting to see. Congrats to you rasnell!

I need to go buy a copy.

[rasnell]

Originally Posted by KurtBevacqua

Congrats. I read the ABJ when I was a kid. I even used to have some semi-regular correspondance with Terry Pluto who I see is now working for the Plain Dealer.

Rob Neyer did a good piece on the called shot in his last book and it's not quite true that Gabby Hartnett didn't see anything. Hartnett's story is almost exactly the same as Crosetti's as cited in the article. Neyer took accounts from everyone he could find who was there and most of them said Ruth was pointing a finger in the air and saying either, "Just one strike," or "It just takes one pitch."

The legendary self-promoter that Ruth was played coy with the truth. He never denied calling the shot, but he also never claimed it. He more or less went along with it. I believe he even once confided to some teammates that he didn't call it, but if some reporters wanted to write it that way we was more than happy to oblige them. Had he really called it, I doubt he would have been so coy. In fact he probably would have been insufferable about it.

I was at the ABJ when Terry Pluto was there. He did two great baseball books during the time about the Indians and about Rocky Colavito.

Della's quote about Gabby not seeing anything is exactly as you noted. "It only takes one to hit it," is what Gabby said Ruth said.

I cover the details in the appendix because I wanted to dwell on the 1929 season in particular because of a major, never-reported detail when Root thought his career was over.

I read everything I could find of those in the press box on the day of the "called shot" and also tracked down the descendant who has the home film of the entire at bat, watching it in his living room. My details are in the appendix, and your recollections are quite close to the real thing.

My own personal Moonlight Graham lived five doors from my childhood home and that's how this story started 31 years ago. Berly "Trader" Horne only made the majors one year, only won one game, but it was on the pitching staff of this incredible 1929 team anchored by Root.

All those details are woven in a way that I hope is a baseball love story. I truly believe the hero of this Root biography is Charlie's wife, Dorothy. Daughter Della, now 90, was my greatest discovery and a huge treasure for life off the field and behind the scenes.

I hope others enjoy the story as much as I did chasing it. I hope my love of the game and the heart of soul of what Charlie was really like will come through.

I'm glad to have this off-topic forum to talk with you all about this. Incidentally, I just won the 1936 World Series in my OOTP league that I "commish" with Charlie Root.

[f.montoya]

Happen to be reading the book at this very moment. It's hard to put down but I have to pick up my daughter from school in 5 minutes. I totally feel like I'm in a baseball time machine with each page turn. Roger does an absolutely outstanding job of scene setting so I really get the feel of being right smack in the middle of 1929. After lunch, I'll probably finish off another 100+ pages.

[rasnell]

Originally Posted by f.montoya

Happen to be reading the book at this very moment. It's hard to put down but I have to pick up my daughter from school in 5 minutes. I totally feel like I'm in a baseball time machine with each page turn. Roger does an absolutely outstanding job of scene setting so I really get the feel of being right smack in the middle of 1929. After lunch, I'll probably finish off another 100+ pages.

This is truly exciting to hear. Please let me know your final thoughts when you get all the way to the end.

Sales and publicity have been remarkable in these first two weeks, but nothing tops Della calling with the book in hand, choked up on the phone with gratitude -- and then sending an email about this being an answers to years of her prayers that someone would finally write something more about her father than that one pitch.

[Déjà Bru]

Darn it! Besides being cheap, why the heck did I have to choose Free Shipping (5-7 business days)?

[AnotherAlias]

Big props to remangiiiiii for pointing this thread out to me.

Just ordered my copy from Amazon. Can't wait to read it.

[StyxNCa]

This is a lie. I haven't written a book yet.

[rasnell]

Originally Posted by AnotherAlias

Big props to remangiiiiii for pointing this thread out to me.

Just ordered my copy from Amazon. Can't wait to read it.

Don't forget, you can get a signed first edition from the author at rootforthecubs.com

$17 paperback. Amazon and Barnes & Noble have discounted, but you really want that autograph and the few extra bucks is worth it for my daughter's college, right.

[AnotherAlias]

Originally Posted by rasnell

Don't forget, you can get a signed first edition from the author at rootforthecubs.com

$17 paperback. Amazon and Barnes & Noble have discounted, but you really want that autograph and the few extra bucks is worth it for my daughter's college, right.

I stopped collecting autographs after I met Michael Jordan back in 1987, at a Dunkin Donut shop in Chicago.

Once you've reach his pinnacle of success, I'll consider the need for collection of yours.

[rasnell]

Originally Posted by AnotherAlias

I stopped collecting autographs after I met Michael Jordan back in 1987, at a Dunkin Donut shop in Chicago.

Once you've reach his pinnacle of success, I'll consider the need for collection of yours.

I once scored 32 points in an intramural basketball game wearing Converse tennis shoes. Guess I've got a ways to go.

[AnotherAlias]

Originally Posted by rasnell

I once scored 32 points in an intramural basketball game wearing Converse tennis shoes. Guess I've got a ways to go.

Converse? Ugh!

You wore Converse? How can I get a refund?!?

[rasnell]

Originally Posted by AnotherAlias

Converse? Ugh!

You wore Converse? How can I get a refund?!?

That was back in the day when man learned to walk upright and needed his first pair of "shoes." It was not the era of Air Jordan.

In fact, I was 6 ft. 5 inches tall, but played 5 ft. 9 in. When I jumped, I lost height.

[CMH]

So, what we're saying is, if Ruth had pointed, he would have had only 713 career homeruns.

[ihatenames]

I will be buying this when the tax return comes to town. Looks to be an interesting read, and I gotta love supporting members of this community. A win-win purchase if you ask me.

[AnotherAlias]

Got my copy today. Can't wait to find the time to dive in.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by AnotherAlias

Got my copy today. Can't wait to find the time to dive in.

Just started reading it yesterday. So far, so good.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by rasnell

If you want a signed copy for $3 more, order from rootforthecubs.com

I get more money so my children can eat and go to college.

Roger, I just finished the book. I am not polished at literary critiquing, so I will just say that it was good and interesting, holding my interest throughout.

That is somewhat of an accomplishment these days, as my reading has gone way downhill (due in no small measure to OOTPB, among other things). More often than not, I have been putting a book down after getting only a quarter or so of the way through, forgetting what I read by the time it pick it up again, and abandoning it. Not so, yours.

As you may be aware, I am a Yankees fan, familiar of course with the Ruthian Called Shot of the 1932 World Series. Up until now, Charlie Root was only a footnote to me. Now I know better about what kind of man, player, and Cub Root was.

I have two minor items to praise and one to criticize.

I liked the way that you (or your publisher) placed your photos in with the context rather than grouping them in the middle of the book as most others do. Also, I liked footnotes at the bottom of pages rather than in the back of the book.

The minor quibble that I have is shifting from past tense to present tense and back, sometimes in the same paragraph. I found that to be distracting at times.

Anyway, I am glad that I bought and read Root For The Cubs by Roger Snell. I regret buying it from Amazon, as I mentioned above. Therefore, to make up for the $3 that I may have cost you by not buying it from your web site, I will bump this thread occasionally, three times in total, once for every dollar that I cost you.

[rasnell]

Thanks so much for your comments. We wrestled with the tense throughout the whole process. I wanted to stay in present tense so that you felt you were there, immediately, in the moment, throughout the 1929 season. However, I had so much historical detail that it led to flawed execution. I should have saved this for the footnotes or the appendix because it was important to me to stay in the present tense with the wealth of info that I had from Charlie's daughter, Della, and the day-by-day reporting that I researched throughout that pivotal season.

I love the feedback that I'm getting and how people pick up on different things that are their favorites:

1. Some have loved the details about William Wrigley as a businessman and how he gives back money that Charlie lost in the 1929 stock market crash because he had convinced him to invest.

2. Others believe that Dorothy is the surprising heroine of the book, pushing her husband to pursue his childhood dream even when his father mocks him for a child's game.

3. Still others have felt compassion for Hack Wilson, the goat of the 1929 World Series, and someone abandoned by both parents but finding his father figure in Manager Joe McCarthy.

4. Al Capone and the back story about the St. Valentine's Massacre have captured a lot of kudos from others.

Thanks again for your comments and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Check out some video interviews that I did with Della and see what a treasure she truly is at www.rootforthecubs.com

[Déjà Bru]

5. Your discovery of the continued existence of 97-year-old Eddie Lautenbacher, last man cut from Cubs spring training at Catalina Island in 1929, his closest chance at ever making the major leagues, who was still alive, kicking, and available for a telephone interview in 2004.

[rasnell]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

5. Your discovery of the continued existence of 97-year-old Eddie Lautenbacher, last man cut from Cubs spring training at Catalina Island in 1929, his closest chance at ever making the major leagues, who was still alive, kicking, and available for a telephone interview in 2004.

That was such a fantastic discovery. I sent out a notice to fellow members of the Society for American Baseball Research and got an email from his daughter, Anne Bernini in Napa. She gave me a phone number to call and she answered.

She totally stunned me, after I asked a few questions, when she said, "Would you like to talk with him." Her father was on the line, just as sharp as could be, and talking about how he never forgot how close he got to the majors that spring training 1929." I had no reason to think that he was still living at that time.

What was really neat was that his daughter asked Newsday to call me on the day of his death for a nice news story that they wrote. She told Newsday that I knew more about his baseball career than the family did.

Thanks so much, Deja Bru, of reminding of that flashback detail. I love what readers remember. I have boxes of photocopies, file drawers of info, and it all becomes a blur when you're totally immersed in it.